A Tragic Childhood
by daypeony
Summary: Who raised Naruto? This series of stand-alone vignettes explore Naruto's pre-manga/show life. I will stay as close to canon as possible. It does portray the 3rd Hokage, as well others, in a painful light, but hopefully showing why they made their choices and how Naruto is able to move beyond his personal trauma.


**A/N:** This is going to be a collection of _(generally sad/depressing)_ vignettes about Naruto's life before the beginning of the manga/show. It will jump around the timeline quite a bit. There will be canon characters as well as some OCs to help fill in the blanks when it comes to who cared for Naruto when he was young (OCs because he never comments on anyone being there!). I might get some canon wrong, but I hope that you will forgive me for that!

Also, I want to make it clear that I do not hate the 3rd hokage! In this story he really didn't know what to do with Naruto—He had lost his successor AND his wife all in one night and had to take on a mantle he had wanted to be rid of. There was a lot going on and he needed a quick solution.

As an adoptive mama, I know that the situations I have imagined Naruto experiencing are deeply damaging, even though the children produced throughout them can still find resilience.

I can't promise any normal updates since this will be more of a 'when I feel inspired about so-and-so.' Feel free to offer suggestions all the same!

I hope you enjoy!

She had been given the codename Haru for the mission.

A stint in this position had become something of a right of passage for a new member of ANBU. She had heard about it as soon as she had met with the third hokage when he told her that she had been selected.

The one year old was sobbing, again. Haru slumped on the floor, her back against the wall as she drew her legs up against her chest. She'd never been good with kids, but the hokage had told her that this was necessary. She had already accepted the position as a member of ANBU, to have rejected the mission would have meant she would be removed immediately, before she had even chosen the animal to represent her.

"This is what the council decided," the third had said. The last ANBU to have raised him, the one with the tiger mask, had handed her the gangly toddler. "It is the only way that we can know he will be controlled."

"Yes, sir," she'd finally said, bowing her head. She'd then taken Naruto into her arms, the child screaming as he was removed from another person's care. She wondered, in that fleeting moment, how many times he'd been moved from person to person.

At least his home was consistent.

Small, hardly furnished. But it would be enough, she supposed, for a caretaker and a toddler. She reached a hand out toward the blond child, at a loss.

"Hey, Naruto," she said, trying to think of what to say. "Do you want to play… With the ball?" It was the first toy she saw, shoved into a corner.

"NO!" he screamed, throwing himself on the floor.

Haru stood and decided to try making dinner. Maybe he was just hungry. There wasn't much to make for him—and she had always depended on her mother's cooking. In the end she settled on some instant noodles that had been shoved into the back of the pantry.

He ate them. Most of them. He threw the rest on the floor.

Haru tried to smile at him, now that he wasn't crying. He squeezed the noodles between his fingers, trying to keep a secure grip on them, his face passive. His blue eyes locked on hers and she reached out to give him an awkward pat on the shoulder.

"How about you and I get along?" she asked. "You're my teammate for now, so we should work together."

He stared at her, quiet. She wondered what he was thinking, if anything. He had yet to say his first word. She knew the rumors that other villagers had spread. He had the Nine-Tails in him. Perhaps, since he had been made into a jinchuriki at birth, he could not develop like a normal child did. It was already taken for granted that he would never demonstrate the empathy. Why wouldn't they assume he wouldn't be able to talk?

That was, when the citizens of the village dared even mention anything at all about Naruto. She knew that the few people who would know the mission she had been on would be full of questions. Whether or not they would ask them, she didn't know.

The child stared at her, still silent. Sullen.

Her training as a kunoichi paid off as she managed to put her hand out to catch the bowl he'd smacked. The noodles stayed put. He started to cry again. She had a feeling it was because she'd foiled him. Haru watched the crying child, keenly aware of the seal on his abdomen.

The hokage had told her to check it at every diaper change. She'd need to make sure that the seal held strong. And if it didn't, if it seemed to have weakened in even the slightest bit, she was to rush the child to the hokage.

The lives of the villagers laid heavily on Haru's shoulders. She knew she should be proud that the hokage felt she was up to the task, but all the same she couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach at the idea of sleeping under the same roof as the child that held the demon who had killed her best friend.

"Fine," she said to Naruto with his red-rimmed eyes. "You can cry all you want." She let him down from the high chair and he crawled around on the ground, too tired and upset to bother with his unsteady walk.

Crawling.

Like a fox.

She'd never liked children. But they'd never made her feel quite like this. Nauseous. And even afraid.


End file.
